


Eat Me, Drink Me

by MrSuzuya



Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga), Death Note: Another Note
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Beyond has a crush on Matsuda but the plot isn't written around that, Beyond is let out of prison by L, Don't copy to another site, Eventual Lawlight, It's basically what if Beyond and Naomi helped catch Kira, L has Asperger's, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2020-05-13 23:13:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19261099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrSuzuya/pseuds/MrSuzuya
Summary: Beyond Birthday is suddenly let out from prison.





	1. Eat Me, Drink Me

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably the solo work I am the most proud of so far. I could never get past 500 words before, and with this one writing came so naturally.  
> I wrote this at four a.m, listening to Marilyn Manson. The song Eat Me, Drink Me gave me an idea. There aren't any lyrics in the fic itself, but if you're curious about the connection, check the lyrics out!  
> However, the song was only the initial inspiration for the fanfiction. The rest of the fanfiction has any influence by it whatsoever.   
> It gets better with the second chapter I promise-  
> https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/marilynmanson/eatmedrinkme.html

B is for backup. His initials aren’t important, they aren’t worth anything.

He would hate being in prison more if he wasn’t alone to himself. He liked his cell, it was quiet and he cleaned it obsessively every morning which made it more homey at least.

L had been more thoughtful than Beyond thought he was. His cell was probably better than normal criminals. When he first was released from the hospital, Beyond wondered if the cold detective actually felt guilt about being the cause of his misery, and was actually apologising in his weird way with this cell.  
Then he saw the Akazukin Chacha manga.

Fucking asshole.

He wasn’t bitter. He was never bitter. The reason he commited his crimes wasn’t because he was bitter anyway.  
Well, at least that’s what he told himself. He knew he was lying but sometimes lies comforted you even when you knew they were very obvious lies.

He remembered how he and A were invited to L’s hotel room to meet L when they were young. Beyond had felt very close to L when he actually saw him, because he wasn’t the perfect image the Wammy’s kids always imagined him as. He was very weird, like Beyond. That felt… Nice. Like he wasn’t alone. Like he could be worth of something too, despite being strange and unusual. 

After he met L, which was kept secret from the rest of the Wammy’s kids, Beyond decided to dye his naturally brown hair black. Only A and him really knew why he had done it, the other kids thought he wanted to look even creepier than he was. 

It was only because he was arrested that his hair was brown again. If he was still out, he would have probably kept dying it black.  
He placed his hand on his hair, which had grown quite long, reaching his shoulders. He started to stroke his own hair, trying to enjoy it. This was pure Beyond, wasn’t it? The Beyond who he claimed was much better at L, despite being a failure.  
No hair dye, no intentional messiness, just pure Beyond.

He was interrupted from his train of thought when a guard barged in. Beyond looked at him.  
Ah, this was Guard McCarthy, he never knocked. Guard Waterson always knocked, because once he came inside while Beyond was masturbating.  
Beyond liked Guard Waterson, he was kind and adorably moronic. If this was any other situation, Beyond would have probably had a thing for him.  
Guard McCarthy however was always cold, he looked at Beyond like he was worth less because of his crimes.  
Beyond honestly couldn’t care less about him and his opinions.

“Prisoner, you’re being let out. L’s orders. You will be accompanied to the airport by Guard Waterson.”

What? 

Why would L let him out of all people?

Beyond normally didn’t really show emotion, but he could feel his jaw dropping. From the expression on his face, he could tell that Guard McCarthy didn’t agree with him being let out.  
Honestly he himself wasn’t sure if he should be happy or not, being let out by L’s mercy was fucking annoying.

Wait, L didn’t have mercy. He must have a plan on using Beyond to his advantage somehow, but what would he even use him for? He couldn’t even be a professional hitman, and because of his mental state he doubted he would be investigating with the man either.

He just shrugged, he would probably see. He walked out of the prison cell, Guard McCarthy handcuffed him and closed the door behind him. 

“This is a secret let out, so you will be using an alias. A prison death by Kira will be forged for you by L.” McCarthy said, his low, annoyed voice sounded even worse than usual. 

Beyond didn’t tease him this time though, he just nodded.

As they walked through hundreds of cells which were mostly empty, he felt somber. He really had spent 2 years in this dusty, depressing place. The prisoners and the guards here were hand chosen by L, so there weren’t a lot of people around despite how many cells there were. It was usually quiet, you were left alone with your own thoughts which was agonizing. Probably why L designed it this way. 

When he saw the blonde, blue eyed, cheery guard he breathed a sigh of relief. He walked faster towards him. The man walked with him the rest of the way out until they reached the lobby.

“Soo, Beyond, you’re being let out because of a secret mission with L, huh?” Waterson winked, then took off his handcuffs (why would McCarthy handcuff him just to walk a corridor anyway, Waterson thought). He had this Californian tan, which Beyond appreciated a lot because it made him look different than the rest of the guards. The others looked like corpses, even he himself looked like a corpse at this point. 

“Yeah, Guard Waterson, announce it to the world.” Beyond chuckled softly.

The guard scratched the back of his neck and gave him an apologetic smile “Sorry… So no murdering people, right?”

Beyond shrugged “It seems that way, I guess unless I am ordered to murder by L. But I would think he would just hire a hitman rather than letting out a serial killer. But no, I’d say there is a low chance of me killing again.”

Waterson smiled again, which made Beyond feel soft inside. “I hope you’re not lying to me, I would be very disappointed in you if you did kill. And I would never sneak you strawberry jam ever again!”

Beyond acted shocked by this threat, covering his mouth with his hand and opening his eyes wide “I really mustn’t then!” he put his hand aside and smiled.

They took a taxi to the airport together, and casually chatted the whole way there. Waterson honestly couldn’t understand how someone like Beyond could commit multiple murders, yes the man had his episodes but he never was violent to others when they happened, he only harmed himself.  
The guard wondered if the murders were a way of breaking himself also.

Waterson gave Beyond his new ID and passport and told him that he was going to be travelling abroad, to Japan. Even his fake name and passport were Japanese, although Beyond was very fluent, he had never visited the country before, so hopefully fitting in wouldn’t be too hard.  
His name was Satoshi Yamada.

Before leaving, Beyond gave Waterson a hug. The guard seemed surprised, but hugged him back. Beyond smiled “Thank you, Guard Waterson, for making my prisoner experience bearable.”

“Thank you for making my shifts bearable also my dude.” he ended the hug and chuckled. Beyond walked a few steps back and waved. 

As he walked away, he chuckled to himself. He normally wasn’t this shy, what had happened to him in the prison honestly?

When he reached the waiting room, he felt very uncomfortable. He was overwhelmed by all the people around him, and having to stay with them until the plane came.  
All the names, all the death dates…  
All eyes were on him, too because of his burn scar that covered literally half of his face, the stares were really distracting when he was trying to forget that there were so many people around.  
He didn’t exactly have an mp3 player or a book to distract himself with. 

He decided to do the opposite of not looking at people, to distract himself by searching for the person with the longest life span in the waiting room. Since there were so many people and names he had to keep in mind, this was a good enough distraction thankfully. He hated his brain sometimes, it always had to be stimulated, or he would get bored or anxious.

Once the announcement for his plane was made, he rushed to get inside it. He didn’t really have any luggage or even a backpack which people around him found weird.  
An old lady sat next to him, named Mary Chandler. She had a few more years, good for her. Though he didn’t feel like speaking with her so he picked up a random magazine and started to read it instead.

He was welcomed by Watari, who had been waiting for him to come. He had spent eleven hours in the plane, and despite it being morning when he entered the plane, it was morning when he arrived as well. He must have expected this, his surprise was entertaining. 

As he got closer to the old man, Beyond noticed that his hair and mustache had gotten whiter since he last saw him. However they both did not speak a word.

The whole ride, Beyond looked at himself from the mirror which might sound egoistic to the average person. He just had changed a lot which he had not realised at prison, without any makeup and with long hair, thanks to his babyface he looked both like a child and a young woman. He couldn’t decide if he liked it or not. Maybe he would keep it. He didn’t look like L anymore. 

Speaking of L, this was actually happening. He was going to see the detective again, and this was surely important since Beyond had been flied all the way to Japan for this.  
This wasn’t going to be an apology, or a simple chat. Beyond knew this, he didn’t expect L to be nice to him. He must have found a use for Beyond and that’s why he wanted him there. This was like being a Backup all over again.  
He didn’t rebel though, L had showed him he was better than him.  
What they had played was a game, maybe a life changing one to Beyond, but only a simple game to L. It didn’t affect the detective in the slightest, since he had bunch of other backups anyway.

Forcing orphaned children to be your backups, he sighed in frustration.

After an hour of driving, Watari parked in front of a luxury hotel, which Beyond wasn’t surprised about. Of course the cunt would only choose somewhere lavish like this.

“What does L need me for?”

Watari just said “You can ask him when you see him.”

Thanks, you helped a lot asshat. Like he wasn’t going to ask L himself anyway.

They stepped inside, Watari talked to the reception lady and they went through an elevator to go to L’s room. 

Beyond could feel his heart beat fasten, the last time he saw L was when he was seventeen years old, and now he was actually twenty two! It had been five whole years. He wondered how much L changed his style and appearance-

No he had not, at all. When Beyond saw him again, he couldn’t help but chuckle.  
Detective L Lawliet was his messy, pale self as always. He seemed to be wearing even the same white shirt and jeans Beyond had last saw him in. He probably didn’t care about how he looked at all. 

But other than L, there were five more men in the room. They all were Japanese, probably policemen the detective was working with.  
One of them reminded him of Guard Waterson with his naive looking face.

“My name is Rue Ryuzaki. Yamada-kun, welcome to the task force.” L held out an apple for him.

Rue Ryuzaki. Rue fucking Ryuzaki, of course. Petty little motherfucker. Beyond frowned. “Ryuzaki-kun, huh? I remember having that name long ago.” he grabbed the apple and bit into it.

His reaction made L’s lips curl up into a playful smile “I won, it is my trophy now.”

Beyond didn’t argue with that, he knew L’s niche when it came to taking people’s names as trophies. He had done that to the other world’s best detectives too, hadn’t he?  
He looked at him with a straight face “Why did you invite me here?”

L pointed at the apple “Yamada-kun, did you know that shinigami love apples?”


	2. Filled In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to continue this fanfiction! Wish me luck, maybe I'll actually finish a multichapter fic for once.

“Beyond? You clearly told them my name was Yamada, did you not?” Beyond gave the other a grin. He completely glossed over the shinigami comment the detective had made. It was obviously him trying to piss Beyond off by making fun of his ‘madness’. He had said he was a shinigami, bringer of death in his interrogation. He felt like it still.

L clearly had the intention of revealing Beyond’s identity to the task force from the start, so he simply nodded and spoke “I’d like to be fully transparent about Yamada-kun’s true identity, otherwise you will trust me even less. However, please know that Yamada-kun in the Kira investigation is going to be truly necessary.”

The police officers seemed intrigued and slightly scared of what was going to be revealed. Once they heard it, they will definitely object to him being there, both L and Beyond knew this. However, the killer himself had no idea why his presence was needed.

“Get to the point already.” he grumbled. He was going to enjoy this.

“Of course. Yamada-kun is also known as Beyond Birthday-”

He was cut off by the man with the curly hair “You are bringing in a serial killer in the task force?! We are policemen, we all know about the Los Angeles BB Case!”  
It appeared that they didn’t despite what the man had said, as the man named Matsuda gasped in surprise, that made Beyond smile.

“I was about to get to that, Aizawa-san.” L rolled his eyes “Beyond Birthday is a master of disguises, he disguised himself as me his whole case just to annoy me. He is my former heir, I know him quite well. Though other than that, I will not reveal my theory yet on what we need him for. If he is useless, we can simply send him back to prison.”

Beyond let himself be comfortable and sat on one of the sofas, but apparently he was still supposed to be stood since he could feel himself being judged by the people around him.  
Maybe it was because of his murders rather than him being sat, though. Who knows.

Beyond chuckled softly and opened his arms “Ask me anything you’d like and I will answer honestly to make sure you feel safe.” he said. He was not willing to be sent back to prison, alright? Waterson wouldn’t want him to, either.

Of course, they were still not convinced to have him there, so they objected to L some more. The serial killer didn’t really care about that whole ordeal, so he let himself get a shut eye for a bit. But he couldn’t do that for long either.  
While the policemen were arguing with the now slightly frustrated detective, he felt someone sit next to him.

“Birthday-san…” that was funny to hear, his stupid surname used like that “How did you go from being Ryuzaki’s heir to a serial killer?”

Beyond opened his eyes, it was the young one again. He shouldn’t be surprised at this point, though. “That’s confidential information, L wouldn’t let me answer. But I suppose I can, a little, just to piss him off.” he smirked “Matsuda-san-”

“How did you know my name?”

Oops. He didn’t notice the task force had not introduced themselves yet. He decided to completely skip over his mistake  
“I was supposed to be the second heir, but the first commited suicide. Being a replacable back-up since middle school doesn’t do the best for one’s psyche.”  
That was all he was going to say for now.

Matsuda clearly had more questions in his head, however, he frowned with determination. The one question he decided on asking was “Can we trust your word?”

This got everyone in the room’s attention, it seemed they all wanted to hear the answer to that question. If you asked Beyond, the first one was way more interesting, so he didn’t get it.

The serial killer shrugged as a response “Unlike L, I don’t lie. But ultimately, it’s your decision to make if you can trust me or not.”

The room was silent. Beyond could almost hear them thinking, they were all considering his answer. He imagined them thinking things such as ‘Could they really trust a serial killer of all people? But not trusting this man meant not trusting L either, didn’t it? Did trusting him mean doing everything he says?’

L himself broke the silence “Please refer to Yamada-kun with his alias, Satoshi Yamada from now on. Him being here is not public information. I understand your concerns, but please trust me with this. Yamada-kun, you’re staying in this hotel room.”

Beyond chuckled softly, this was a good oppurtunity to tease “Are we going to share beds as well?”

L smirked as a response “You wish. Anyway, you can all leave early today. I need to fill Yamada-kun in.”

The playful banter seemed to confuse them more, however, they all left as they were told. It seemed L didn’t really let them go early often, so they seemed pleased about that, despite the fact that they were concerned about the serial killer being there.

Before Matsuda left, Beyond waved at him. Was he coming onto him too hard? Probably.  
He turned his full attention onto the detective in front of him “Cut to the chase, what do you really need me for?”

L started to chew on his thumb, he sighed. “The Kira Case overlaps with the claims you made when you got arrested. Kira claims that shinigami like apples, which is probably to be taken as him teasing however he also needs a name and a face to kill… You claimed you were able to see people’s real names by just looking at their faces, and you also said you were a shinigami.”

This made Beyond laugh, his laugh was often said to be creepy, he liked that though. “The shinigami thing I didn’t really mean, it was an analogy. You didn’t visit me in prison a single time, Lawliet, you just convinced yourself I was insane. But now you suddenly believe the things I said?”

When the serial killer used his real surname, L Lawliet was visibly shaken. However he managed to calm himself rather quickly “I did not say I believed you, I simply said there was a correlation. But you proved me your abilities just now. I have a few questions.”

Beyond told L that he had this ability ever since he was born, and that he could also see people’s remaining lifespans, however he would never tell anyone how long they had left. He told L that knowing when everyone around him was going to die drove him to madness, and how he only was able to kill people who were supposed to die soon. L listened everything intently, the things he once took as a madman’s ramblings actually made sense with context.  
Beyond had lost his secrecy now, L knew all of his weaknesses. But he thought maybe, maybe somewhere deep inside, he still wanted to prove his worth to L. He still wanted to be useful to him, and he was ashamed of it.

L told him that he suspected Kira to be connected to the police, so he sent the FBI to follow the police’s family members, and his suspicions got confirmed when all the FBI agents got killed. L stood up and grabbed a file from his desk, which he gave to Beyond before sitting back. The file had the names and faces of all the agents that died, the serial killer immediately noticed a familiar name.

“Raye Penber died as well, huh? Good, she deserved much better.” Beyond couldn’t help but comment.

“You mean Naomi Misora I take it? She must be in Japan, perhaps I should contact her as well for her help.” L mumbled. Watari brought them both a tray of cookies, the detective immediately took one of them and stuffed it in his mouth.

“Misora is an ambitious woman, she is probably conducting her own investigation on Kira.” the brown haired man said, and he took one of the cookies as well “So it would make the most sense if you got in contact with her, she is brilliant.” he bit into it.


	3. The Undying

“Hello, this is Misora.” the woman said as she answered her ringing phone.

“Misora-san, hello.” she heard the familiar synthetic voice she used to feel annoyed by, but hearing it again made her take a deep sigh of relief “This is L. First of all, I am very sorry about what happened to your fiancé, Raye Penber.”

She nodded, despite the other not being able to see her (probably, who knows with this detective) “Thank you.”

“I was told you would be conducting your own investigation in the Kira Case by a mutual friend of ours. However, I’d like to ask you to join me instead. And of course, please destroy your phone within twenty four hours, I will be replacing it for you.”

Mutual friend? She was going to attempt to contact L on joining the investigation anyway, so this made her very happy. “I’m honoured. I will be of great use, I promise.”

“I know that already. Please use the alias ‘Shoko Maki’ and talk to the reception at the police station tomorrow at 12 pm. Tell them you have information on the Kira Case to give. Our mutual friend will soon pick you up.” 

Without even saying goodbye, the detective hung up. But Naomi Misora was so happy even this could not bother her.

…

Beyond Birthday was getting ready for the day for the first time in years.  
To pick up Naomi Misora of all people, saying he was excited to see her again was an understatement.  
The woman had exceeded all of his expectances the last time, despite how much he had helped her in the case itself.

He had worn a black t-shirt, black skinny jeans and a trenchcoat. He attempted to cover his burn scars but this proved to be difficult, so he just let them stay the way they were. But black eyeliner was a must. And of course, his mess of a hair was in a ponytail.

What if he looked like he was a teenager who started to use MySpace for the first time? At least he didn’t look like a recently let out inmate, right?

He walked out of his room to grab a strawberry flavoured lollipop before heading out. He could feel the eyes of the policemen on him the whole time, but they stayed silent. Yeah, he slept in a lot, okay? He was tired, jetlag.

When he walked out the hotel room and was about to close the door behind him, he heard one of them say “Ryuzaki, do you have to really let him in the task force?”

He shrugged and closed it anyway.

Being a regular citizen again was a strange feeling, of course he still got looks thanks to his scar and his clothes, but no one had any idea he was a murderer. He was just…  
One of them to them. One of the normal, regular people.  
You see, he had never been truly one of them in his life, being an orphan at a young age, then being raised in Wammy’s, of all places. His existence had been hidden from the public eye.  
Oh, and of course, having his eyes was one of the reasons as well.

He wondered, were Kira’s killings truly supernatural? Did he have the ability to cut someone’s lifespan shorter, or were the people supposed to die when Kira killed them? He sucked on the lollipop harder, holding the stick with one of his hands.

He saw two little girls with their Sailor Moon backpacks.  
That made him smile. He liked Sailor Moon too, he had no idea the new generation still knew about it. But it was top tier after all, certainly one of his favourites. When he was 16 he actually had cosplayed as Sailor Neptune with A as Sailor Uranus. It was almost impossible to get A to agree on cosplaying as a girl, so they chose Uranus who was more butch looking.

Okay B, stop. You are looking for the police station, and you’re not going to go in a bookstore and repurchase your Sailor Moon manga. That would be wasting time, you don’t want to keep Naomi Misora waiting.

He walked for about 10 minutes before seeing the police station. L was right after all (as always, ugh), the station was very close to the hotel.

“Excuse me, my father is actually in charge of the Kira investigation. If you'd like, I could pass your message on him. His cellphone is off at the moment, but I should be able to contact him soon.-”

As soon as Beyond entered the police station, he started to call in a sing-song-y manner before even looking at anyone in there “Maki-chan~, Maki-chan~! Satoshi Yamada at your service, I’m supposed to pick you up!”

The black haired woman turned away from the gentleman she was speaking to, then looked at Beyond. But Beyond couldn’t focus on her properly. Behind the boy, there was a creature, a creature so terrifying even Beyond Birthday couldn’t help but…  
Scream. Yes, he actually screamed. 

“You- are you okay?!”

Everyone was looking at him, and his eyes were fixated on the creature. Even the boy Naomi was speaking to, Light Yagami apparently… But he couldn’t see his lifespan.  
He could feel himself shaking, for the second time in his life, he couldn’t do anything but scream. He noticed that the boy Naomi was speaking to looked at the creature for a second himself, but it was so quick he couldn’t be sure. 

“Oh, you can see me?”

The creature spoke to him. Was he truly going mad? Was he actually schizophrenic? Were the names he saw of people not real either?  
But the lifespans were also correct, painfully so even. 

“I… I can see you. What are you?”

The creature started to laugh and laugh. His laugh was very similar to Beyond’s own laugh, which was not pleasant.

“I am a shinigami, and apparently so are you. My name is Ryuk.”

So are you?  
Beyond didn’t look like that, he was human. Was the universe fucking with him? 

“Ah, you must be Kibishi’s kid. I’ve been here for only a few weeks and I met Kibishi’s human son already. The human world is so much fun!”

Beyond covered his eyes with his hands, when he looked again, the thing would be gone. That only made sense… He was an insane serial killer after all, that only made sense.  
It’s about time he’s having hallucinations. His brain was playing with him because he said he was a shinigami when he got arrested. Fuck his brain.  
Even he himself was against him. Everyone and everything was against him.

When he opened his eyes again, the thing was still there and even worse, waving at him. He turned to Naomi and mouthed ‘Help me’.  
Despite being so angry at the serial killer because of all he had done, Naomi helped him up. She excused them and took him out of there, and Beyond would be forever grateful to her for what she did.

“Misora-san... L told me to pick you up, but I saw that thing there. Believe me or not, I’ve never had hallucinations before.” he managed to utter, but his voice wasn’t the best because he had screamed a lot earlier. 

“Why are you even out?! You were supposed to be in prison!” she was frowning. But now that she thought about it… It made sense. Who else could be the mutual friend L talked about? “He let you out, didn’t he? But you shouldn’t be out, look at what happened today… You’re not sane.”

Beyond shook his head “We can discuss my sanity later, okay? I’m just going to take you to L, then rest. I promise I won’t harm anyone but Kira.” 

The former FBI agent trusted his word, as the man was extremely vulnerable at that point. She nodded and said “Lead the way.”


	4. Penber

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys, this chapter is kind of crappy

“Who the fuck was that man?!” the boy couldn’t contain his anger. For all he knew that woman might have had vital information, however, the strange guy being able to see Ryuk? A half shinigami, at L’s side? How much did L actually know?  
He had to either kill this Satoshi Yamada or make him join Kira’s cause.

“Kibishi’s son, didn’t you pay attention? Hyuk hyuk!” his shinigami chuckled. 

“Who is Kibishi? Ryuk, you have to tell me.” he demanded. Despite his calm voice, his perfect facade had slipped already. He didn’t even swear all that often.

“I don’t know if I will.” the shinigami said, but to that the boy threw him an apple. When Ryuk caught it, he announced “I guess I will.”

….

The police task force were in awe when they met the beautiful woman with the name of Naomi Misora. Naomi wasn’t just physical beauty either, she had a good head on her shoulders. She shared the saddening story which was her fiance’s death.

Beyond was glad that sexist piece of shit was dead, Naomi was one of the best FBI agents around, and she was a lion who couldn’t be stuck in a house with babies. She needed action and thrill in her life.

“Thanks to the bus jacking incident that revealed the identity of Raye to Kira, I started to believe that Kira’s killing capabilities aren’t limited to heart attacks. I think he can control the way people die.”

Matsuda gasped in surprise, Beyond scooted closer to the man. The policeman mouthed ‘Please don’t kill me’ to the serial killer in return.  
Beyond shook his head and smiled.

“That seems like a very likely scenario indeed, Misora-san.” L nodded and added a few more cubes of sugar into his tea “I propose watching the videotapes we have of Raye Penber’s death. Misora-san, you don’t have to watch them if you don’t want to.” he sipped his tea.

“No, I want to. It will be difficult to watch, but I might just see something you don’t see. But L-” 

“Ryuzaki.”

She furrowed her brows. Both of them were very petty. Beyond had stolen L’s appearance while L now stole Beyond’s old alias. “Ryuzaki-san… Why did you let Beyond out, and did you only summon me because I was the one who arrested him?”

L took a deep breath, and sipped his tea once again “Beyond Birthday has a supernatural ability similar to Kira’s killing. And I only summoned you because B and I both trusted your capabilities, though he was the one who brought it up.”

Aizawa opened his mouth to speak, however, the same question he was about to ask was asked by Soichiro Yagami already “What supernatural ability?” he sounded very wary, the serial killer couldn’t blame him.

“I can see the real names of everyone I look at.” Beyond shrugged “I even know Ryuzaki and Watari’s real names. Don’t worry, I can’t actually hurt any of you.” he knowingly avoided mentioning the lifespan part. 

Everyone looked absolutely gobsmacked.   
Except L of course, he knew it already. Watari also listened in on the conversation they had yesterday, so he was fine.  
“Now that we’re done with that, let us watch the tapes.” L declared, so Watari started to play them on the TV. 

Aizawa frowned “Ryuzaki, you can’t just say your serial killer friend here can see the real names of people and expect us to believe that. And even if he can, what if he switches sides? He would have seen all of our real names, he could easily tell Kira all of them and even get you killed.”

The video had already started, so L just picked up the remote control and stopped it “That’s because he won’t switch sides. If I lose to Kira, he will no longer be at the second place. He will be at the third place.” he just downed the tea after saying that.

Beyond was really annoyed by this because it was his exact thought process. He had to defeat L himself if he wanted to prove that he is better than him. If he beats him with Kira, he will still have lost at one on one. 

“What is with the second and third place thing?” Matsuda asked this time, looking both at Beyond and L. 

He chuckled at that “Confidential. That’s why Ryuzaki didn’t mention it before.”

The curly-haired policeman seemed very angry at this, but Soichiro spoke again “From the sounds of it, you two have a personal history. We respect that you don’t share it with us, however, please share it if it ever becomes related to the case.”

“Will do, Yagami-san.” L started the video again.

This time everyone watched it with full focus. Raye Penber was about to head into the train, with an envelope. When he left, he no longer had the envelope, and he had died looking desperately inside the train. Everyone concluded the thing Penber seemed to search for inside was Kira, and that envelope must have had very important information Kira wanted.  
Like the names and faces of all the FBI agents that were sent to Japan.

“Ah Raye, you absolute idiot…” Naomi uttered. Beyond noted that she was hardly containing her tears.

The detective turned to Watari “The day of the bus jacking was staged for Raye Penber to reveal his identity to Kira, which Kira used to kill all the rest of the FBI agents. Watari, can you tell me which families Penber was following before he died?”

The old man sat in front of the computer and got to researching.

“Kira must surely be one of them!” the chief said, his voice hardly containing his excitement. They had won already, right? They were going to catch Kira very soon!

But Watari killed that hope when he said, “Ryuzaki, Penber was investigating the Kitamura family and the Yagami family.”

While Soichiro Yagami’s eyes widened, L started to chew his finger. 

However, Beyond Birthday was now sure he knew the identity of Kira:  
Light Yagami. And if he hadn’t stepped in, Naomi Misora could have been a victim of the mass murderer too. Now, to share this information with L or not to share this information with L? If he wanted, he could catch Kira before L. Wouldn’t that make him number one again-

No. He gave up on that race after he got caught. He was already bested, and if he had died that day, he wouldn’t have been. Nothing could make him the number one again. He didn’t want L to be number one, but he couldn’t be number one, and if Kira became it he would be number three.  
Or... Would L make him number three instead after beating Kira?  
Not if he helped him. Then he would have caught Kira alongside L, that would make him better than Kira.

Okay, he was going to share his suspicions after the policemen were gone.

“We will place wiretaps and cameras to both households. Also, I would like some tiramisu Watari.”

“And I would like a jar of strawberry jam.” Beyond quickly added. This got him a look of disgust from Misora, she was traumatised. 

Matsuda objected this time “You can’t do that, the chief has a young daughter! It is very disrespectful!”

Beyond turned to him and chuckled softly “That little lady might be a mass murderer, you wouldn’t know.”

“How dare you?!” Soichiro yelled at Beyond, though then he took a deep breath to calm himself down. He closed his eyes for a moment as well “Do what you must do, Ryuzaki.”

L was going to do it anyway, whether Soichiro wanted him to or not. However, he said “Thank you.” anyway.

Eventually, the policemen left, only leaving L, Watari, Misora and Beyond in the hotel room. Beyond had laid on the couch, one leg on top of it. He was also sucking on his jam covered fingers.

The former FBI agent was holding a cup of tea she was looking at. She sighed “There is also one more thing… Beyond is having delusions.” she informed the detective. 

“No, I wasn’t having delusions. Light Yagami had a shinigami with him only I was able to see.” 

L’s eyes widened, and he and Beyond looked at each other. They were both thinking the same thing:

They had found their prime suspect.


	5. Watcher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> School started last week so I will try my best to update this every weekend. I just hope I don't feel lazy or lose motivation and leave it unfinished.

“Why did you not sleep for four days, Light-o?” the monster asked, behind the pristine-looking young man as always as they were walking to his house.

The man calmly said, “I stayed up writing the names of criminals for the next several months.”

“Why would you do that?”

He chuckled softly “It would be the most suspicious if Light Yagami got hospitalized and the Kira killings stopped, wouldn’t it? I have to be a few steps ahead.”

“You’re a smart cookie.”

_As if you didn’t already know that, shinigami. I sadly can’t say the same to you._

Ever since he learned the identity of the half shinigami, Light Yagami got way too paranoid. He didn’t have the advantage anymore. One of L’s men could see his shinigami, and he was definitely a prime suspect now if he wasn’t before.

L could know for sure he’s Kira, but as long as they couldn’t _prove_ anything, he was safe. From now on, he would just have to be even more careful. That’s fine, nothing he can’t do.

Before entering through the house door, he took a deep breath. He felt exhausted. Sadly, the God of the New World still had his human limits. Despite not being as sharp as he normally is, thanks to not sleeping as he should, he noticed that the door handle was not how it was supposed to be. He normally pushed it slightly down, however, the piece of paper was still there.

He entered the room to discover the mechanical pencil lead being broken also. Someone had entered his room and didn’t want him to know.

He wanted to let himself fall onto the bed and just sleep, however he couldn’t anymore. He was probably being recorded. As Light had already expected, the man probably told L of what he saw. Maybe even before, L already know of shinigami. Maybe he shouldn’t have sent the ‘shinigami love apples’ clue…

Thankfully he had already written names for the next several months, though he needed to find a way to still have access to the news at his house just to make sure there weren’t any criminals who were wanted.

…

“Why would he go through all this trouble… What could he be hiding that I don’t know about?” Soichiro furrowed his brows.

“He’s a teenager.” L reminded “That’s not abnormal behavior.”

Beyond was licking off the jam from his hands, but he stopped for a moment and pointed out “He seemed like he hasn’t slept in a while.”

The policeman proudly nodded “He’s been studying for the To-Oh Entrance Exam. But he shouldn’t do this to himself, I must remind him to take care first when I get home.”

“That’s a bad idea, you weren’t home to see how sleepless he’s gotten.”

Soichiro couldn’t deny that the detective was right. He’d keep his mouth shut, it was still upsetting though.

Beyond was bored out of his mind, the three of them watched the Yagami women all day before Light had come from school. Naomi, Watari and the rest of the policemen were watching the Kitamura household since they didn’t want to bother their chief.  
Now however, he wasn’t so bored anymore.

_“Light-o, why aren’t you talking to me?”_

Light Yagami had figured there were cameras and wiretaps installed already, then. He was completely ignoring his shinigami, Beyond pitied the creature a bit.

After sitting on his bed, thinking for a bit, the young man let himself get into the bed. It was too early to sleep, but clearly he needed it.

With that, Beyond just watched the shinigami as he talked to himself and flew around in boredom for a while.

Then the creature flied towards a camera, face to face with it. Of course, Beyond was the only one who could see this, so the others just continued to watch Sayu Yagami.

 _“Are you watching, half-shinigami? Beyond?”_ the thing laughed quietly, as to not wake Light up.

That was thoughtful of him.

Beyond decided that if all shinigami looked like this, he didn’t want to be a half shinigami. The creature was very ugly.

A few hours later, the policemen went to their houses, leaving only Naomi, Watari, L and Beyond. The serial killer had knowingly chosen to sit next to Naomi Misora.

No one had anything interesting to say, their prime suspect had slept most of the day off, after all. The Kitamura family didn’t do anything worthy of note, apparently. Sayu Yagami had watched a soap opera with Ryuga Hideki, and Sachiko Yagami had cooked and discussed their worries about Light studying so much.

Beyond finally spoke, “He ignored the shinigami as soon as he entered his house, he probably suspected we bugged the house from the start-”

“Or he might not _know_ a shinigami is following him, you know.” the former FBI agent added, fiddling with her fingers. She clearly didn’t want this high school boy with a very good future to kill her fiance.

“The thing specifically said ‘Light-o, why aren’t you talking to me?’, so I doubt that he didn’t know about it. And when the boy slept… It spoke to me.”

This immediately got L’s interest. The detective started to chew his thumb as he watched his former replacement. He then asked, of course, “What did he say?”

“He asked me if I was watching and referred to me as a half-shinigami. He also knew my name.”

Naomi seemed shocked, but L was as calm as usual. He had predicted this might have been the case already, since the serial killer apparently had these powers since birth.

He actually couldn’t think of any other possibility.

“I thought so.” L nodded.

“My father’s name is... Kibishi, apparently.” he took a deep breath. This was difficult.

He knew his mum, he knew his dad. They both died, and he remembered expecting them to die when he was a child. If his biological father was a shinigami, either he must be adopted or his mother must have cheated on his dad with one.

He was probably adopted, his mum wasn’t really cool enough to get in a bed with a shinigami.

He wanted to know how his biological parents were. Were they dead? Did they want to meet him? He wanted to meet them.  
Perhaps they even knew of him already because of his murders. He wouldn’t know.

“I have to research this on the side.” Beyond decided. He would learn all information on this he could. He had to try.

“You can when we solve the Kira case. However, as of now, you are the only person who can see the shinigami. And it might give us very valuable information.”

Rest of the night, Naomi Misora headed to her house and the two Wammy’s kids watched as the high school student slept in his bed. Of course, the shinigami didn’t sleep, he started to try to strike conversations with Beyond instead because of boredom. He talked of apples and how they compared to the ones in the Shinigami Realm.

Nothing worthy of note except the existence of such a realm. But that might be false, who knows.

The two genuises were all alone, even Watari had gone to sleep before it got too late. He said he was going to check the Kitamura footage the next day.  
They ate all kinds of candy they could find, drank a lot of very sugary coffee to stay awake and just watched nothing worthwhile. However, this reminded B of how many things he wanted to ask and say to the detective.

It was around 3 am when Beyond couldn’t control himself and suddenly asked the detective a question:

“Why didn’t you come to A’s funeral?”

L started to chew on his fingernails, carefully planning his wording so it didn’t go wrong in any way. He knew his monotone voice wouldn’t help him at all, it was always a nuisance when he tried to appeal to people who were sensitive about certain things.

“I wanted to go. I suppose you could say I was… Scared. I knew what excuse I would give if I did came, I would just say I’m A’s cousin et cetera, however, I couldn’t. I can assure you that I watched the entire footage of the funeral, though."

This was such a bullshit excuse. Beyond rolled his eyes and downed his all of his coffee. What had he expected to hear anyway?


	6. Hands Tied

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pushing myself so hard to write a new chapter every week. With school and stuff, it is kinda difficult. But it makes me feel productive, so I'm not complaining. I'm sorry if the plot as a whole doesn't really match, as I'm making this up as I go. I didn't intend this to be a whole, multi-chapter fanfiction but I'm very much glad it did become one.

The cops were off the premises, again. L had been letting them go earlier the last few days. While they were having a break from the exhaustion of the investigation, Watari, L, Misora and B were not. They were busier and more tired than ever

“The creature told the locations of all the cameras to Light Yagami.”  B told his two companions.

They decided they would speak English with each other when dealing with topics they didn’t want the force to know fully yet. They would eventually be told everything, but it could make them lose progress if they did it now.

Back to the topic…  
Now that the teenager knew where the blind spots were, he wouldn’t leave any kind of evidence that would point to him being Kira. Or being involved with Kira in any way. This was the exact thing they were afraid of, the shinigami taking sides with Yagami.

“Plan B, then.” L said “Well, Plan L in this case. I might have to approach Yagami directly.”

The ex FBI agent furrowed her brows and put her hands on her waist “Why would you do that? B can actually _see_ the creature. If someone should meet Kira, must it not be him? Plan _B_.”

She trusted the detective’s words, however, she was afraid the man could be losing his rationality with such competition. Or perhaps he knew something she did not know, which was probably more likely. 

“Because Kira has already seen B’s face. Yes, it would be the most helpful to see what the shinigami is doing I’m not going to deny that. But, I feel like L coming up to him could change the game in our favour.”

“I still don’t fully understand the thought process here.” 

L turned to Beyond, putting off Misora’s question for now  “What do you think, B?” he had noticed the copycat had been staying quiet the whole time. His opinion would probably be of value. 

The serial killer looked up from the strawberry shortcake he was eating “I could also approach Yagami, pretending to be an ally. He’d like that I can see the names of people he wants to kill, wouldn’t he?” 

Naomi Misora, for some reason, seemed very against this idea.  
L agreed with her, so he nodded “That would be a last resort. He knows you are from my side since you came to pick up Misora using my name. He’d be very suspicious of you if you told him you decided to switch sides, so we probably wouldn’t get a confession. And if he tried to get my name from you, it could endanger both of us.”

“What if I told him I was L, like you probably plan to do?” 

L had a very specific plan in mind, and he didn’t want anyone to get in the way of it. He stood up from the couch and brought a piece of paper and a black marker with him and started scribbling to show what everything would look like. Of course, he would burn the paper later.

“In a few months, there will be the the To-Oh University’s entrance exam which I know -thanks to Chief Yagami- that Light has been studying for. I will also get into the exam. We will gain access to all the security cameras in the area, so Beyond can keep an eye on the creature. I will always wear earphones after the exam, so it looks like I’m a music addict. However, that earphones will be plugged to a phone which I can talk to Beyond with. I will respond to everything you say as I talk to Light. I will reveal to him that I’m L, and invite him to join the investigation.”

“But-”

  
“I will also use the name Hideki Ryuga, which will keep me safer as the real Hideki Ryuga is a popular idol we know for a fact he knows thanks to Sayu Yagami. If he dies, we’ll know he’s Kira, and if _I_ die, we’ll know for sure he’s Kira.” he gave a little grin, which looked unusual as his face was without expresion most of the time.

  
It just made sense. If there was a better approach to Yagami than this, L would have thought of it already. 

_Every important move is risky in a game of chess played by geniuses._

 

_…_

 

“And begin!”

The students rushed to their pencils to start the exam as soon as possible. The room was completely silent of speaking despite having a lot of students in there. All you could hear was heavy breathing, writing, people dropping their things on the floor. You could even feel their stress in the air.

Light was confident in himself, he took his time with each question. He was fairly quick at reading, and he knew all the answers to the questions anyway. There was no need to lose his focus by rushing himself. That would be the end for him, he’d get very angry if it turned out he made some stupid mistake. 

“Hm?”

Since no one spoke, this probably got everyone in the room’s attention, but they tried their best at keeping their eyes on the paper anyway. The teacher walked in the direction of Light, and Light grew curious. What would he even say to Light? Warn him so he doesn’t waste time? He didn’t have the authority to that. 

But the man continued to walk, completely passing Light. So Light grabbed his mechanical pencil back.

“You there! Student number 162, sit properly in your chair!”

Light’s curiosity grew, so he turned behind him to see that student. The man he saw was a peculiar individual, he was holding the pencil with tips of his two fingers and sat in a very strange position. Even weirder, he was wearing a shirt and some jeans despite coming to the exam of a famous school such as To-Oh. He wasn’t even wearing shoes, the tips of his toes were on the table. He had spiky black hair and dead looking black eyes.  
They looked at each other in the eyes, it sent a chill down to Light’s spine.

He didn’t like this man. He was very ugly and improper, he hated people who just couldn’t grasp how to present themselves. And this guy had the nerve to try to enter a prestigious school? Light scoffed internally. 

_I should focus on my paper, it’s not like I’ll ever see this guy again._

_..._  

And he saw this guy again. 

He knew he was going to be sharing the first place with someone else, and since they were two people, both of them had to do a speech in the entrance ceremony.

However, he never expected to share the first place with _him_ of all people.

Was he a nerd who didn’t do anything but study in his free time? What was the deal of him? It seemed like he was off in his own world.

Light didn’t really get it, and he would consider himself brilliant when it comes to understanding people and their actions. He’s very smart, after all.

But this guy was an enigma… And even though he was so unlikable, Light couldn’t deny he was intriguing. 

He was even wearing the same baggy clothes he had worn in the exam, and this was a formal event for goodness’ sake. He even had earphones on the whole time, listening to some rock song it seemed. He had his earphones _on the stage._

Once they finished their speeches, it got even weirder. 

“Light Yagami, your father is Chief Soichiro Yagami of the NPA. Your respect for your father is matched only by your strong sense of justice.”

_Who the hell is this guy?_

They sat on their seats, the man sat in a very peculiar way again. He continued to talk.

“You are planning to join the police agency when you graduate. And you’ve already got experience, seeing as you helped the police on a number of cases in the past. Now, you’re showing an interest in the _Kira_ case. I’m really impressed by your abilities, and your sense of justice. If you promise not to tell anyone about this, I have important information concerning the Kira investigation I’d like to share with you.”

Where was this even coming from? Who was this guy, how did he know so much about Light? Was he some sort of stalker? Was it safe to just ignore him?

But… what could be the information he wanted to share?

“I won’t tell anyone, what is it?”

“I’m L.”

Everything stopped all of a sudden. All the loud noise around them, it was like the whole world knew this was an important moment and had respect for it. 

Light could feel himself shaking.   
There’s no way, there’s no way the actual L would reveal himself to him. If he really was L, he wouldn’t admit to it. The stranger was surely strange, but Light didn’t think he was _that_ weird.

_Stop. This isn’t good. Don’t act surprised. On the off chance that he really is L, I have to act how Soichiro Yagami’s son Light Yagami would act in this situation.There’d be no reason for him to be afraid._

“If you are who you say you are, then you have nothing but my respect and admiration.” 

“Thank you. The reason I revealed my identity to you is because I think you could be of help to us in the Kira investigation.”

Ryuk chuckled to himself “If this guy is really L like he says, consider me impressed.”

He was right. If this guy was really L, even if he _wasn’t_ L, Light couldn’t _do anything_ to him. If he was telling the truth, he probably had shown his face to Soichiro. If he were to die right after telling Light who he was, it would only confirm their suspicions and give them more evidence. Even if Hideki Ryuga wasn’t an alias, Light couldn’t kill him..! He would think of the name of the pop idol! And if the idol died, it would be obvious that Light was Kira.

  
He must be under suspicion because of Beyond, L’s guy who was half shinigami. He just couldn’t afford to give them any physical proof of him being Kira, and L had probably approached him to watch him up-close. This was… A lot of stress. He had to be perfect with everything he did from now on.

As they were leaving the ceremony, L called to him. 

“Hey Light! It was nice meeting you. Well, I’m sure I’ll see you on campus.”

The man got into his black limousine, even the doors were held open by the driver. 

“Yeah! Take care.” 

And as he said this, the car door was closed and it drove off.

  
Light felt like he was losing his mind, but kept himself calm on the outside. 

His hands were tied now, nothing he could do would get him off the hook. He just had to go home and blow up intentionally, because it felt like even someone bumping to him would be like a needle to a full balloon.  

_Good move, L._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to hear your opinions and criticism! Do you think I should change anything, or do you want me to add specific things to the story in the future? Nothing is pre-planned, so I will consider everything you suggest :) let's write this story together.


	7. A Game of Pretend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been so long since I last updated this, I'm so sorry. I hope I can finish it, even if it takes a year or so. I'm sorry if the writing in this is worse than usual, I'm rusty but I still wanted to give you a chapter that is longer than usual :)

L knew Light Yagami was Kira. One of his team members had even met his shinigami. Thanks to Beyond carelessly revealing everyone around him that he was with L and was there to pick up Naomi, Light knew that L knew he was Kira too.   
He would prefer it if Kira didn’t have that information, but it was too late and it couldn’t be helped at this point.

Since both parties seemed interested in getting to ‘know’ each other, L casually challenged him for a tennis match.

While they were against one another, Beyond would try to have contact with the shinigami. They didn’t know how they could get the creature alone, they didn’t know what it was capable of either. But Beyond had his questions, and L could benefit from having a half shinigami on his side if he knew his capabilities.

The match wouldn’t give anything away, it was just a token for their newly-found “friendship”. The detective needed to get closer to Kira, possibly have him in the task force to watch him better. Beyond would be there, he’d keep an eye on the shinigami, and Naomi would be there, she’d keep an eye on Beyond. 

He guessed that Kira had the same exact plan of joining the task force to watch him and have better access to private information about the Kira case. For now, it would be of benefit to both of them.

_It is all too perfect. We are on the same page, so perhaps I should think of something that would take him off guard._

Yes, Beyond was going to try to talk to the shinigami, however that could result in nothing. Then he would have nothing Light would not expect already. 

“Hideki-kun? Are you coming?” Light asked him, L nodded. 

Even the man’s ‘sweet’ voice was fake, L could tell right away. There was something underneath all of that, and L couldn’t decide if that got him excited or not.

…

Beyond wasn’t as good as disguising himself anymore as he used to be. The major hindrance for that was the fact that half of his face was burned. So he hadn’t actually gotten worse at it, but the canvas that was his face was making this more difficult than it used to be, maybe it wouldn’t be as bad if he learned how to cover up big scars in the future, but he didn’t know how to currently. Because of this, in order to disguise himself from someone who had seen him before, he had to take drastic majors.

Such as dressing up as a woman. 

While L had gone to To-Oh, Misora and Beyond had gone shopping together. They needed makeup supplies for Beyond (for some reason, L hadn’t given him any despite knowing how good he was), a black wig, a corset to give him a more pronounced waist, a bra, etc...  
It’s not like he was preparing for a drag show -though he had tried it before, and it was fun-, this was supposed to look more natural. Thankfully, he had an androgynous face but his body wasn’t. 

He had a black wig that reached his shoulders with bangs, a black metal band tee, tight jeans and black boots with heels. Foundation, a red lip, some eyeliner, mascara and he was ready. When he finally finished getting ready, he decided to check himself up again just to see if there were any giveaways.

_I don’t think so, I’d fuck me._

“I’m coming with you. I can’t leave you alone.”

Thankfully just a style change and some sunglasses did the trick for Naomi (since she didn’t have a big, ugly ass scar). He had given her pink lipstick, a white button-up shirt and a pencil skirt then pulled her hair into a bun. They were 10 minutes later than they intended, but no can do.

They eventually managed to leave. As they were walking, she started to talk. 

“I forgot how good you were at this.” she said, but she wasn’t looking at him “ I can still hardly tell the difference between L and how you used to look when we met. And that’s not pleasant, every time I talk to him I expect him to say the things you’d say. React the same way.”

“Why are you chatting with me?” he couldn’t understand. He liked talking with her, however, she must have felt betrayed by him. They were partners for a bit after all. 

Naomi bit her bottom lip slightly “It’s like we were actual friends. You told me to dump Raye back then... Like you actually cared about my feelings and well being. Maybe it was all an act to gain my trust, probably it was all an act to gain my trust. But still…”

Maybe it was too brave of him, but he quickly wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to comfort her. 

“You are a smart woman. Maybe you aren’t a genius, honestly, you should be thankful you _aren’t a genius_. You are strong, practical, talented. I just didn’t think you deserved being stuck in a house cooking and cleaning, popping babies. I still think you would be very unhappy. You are in you when you’re investigating.”

“I…” she didn’t twitch for a second as he touched her but didn’t push him away “You’re right. The worst part is… He’s gone, but I don’t miss him as much as I should. It feels kind of freeing, and it shouldn’t feel that way. I should be feeling like a part of me is gone as well. I almost feel happy, investigating the Kira case like I had wanted to.” 

“That’s ‘cause you’re in your element, baby.” 

The pet name was enough to make her shove him away. She turned to him finally “You’re fucking flirting with me.”

“I flirt with all my friends.” 

“I’m not your friend, how many friends do you have anyway?”

“Zero, currently. Do you wanna be my friend? For real this time?”

Naomi suddenly stopped walking. She furrowed her brows and pressed his lips to one another.  
Even though it didn’t feel like it currently, she was talking with a serial killer. This wasn’t any normal friend who wanted a second chance. This person was dangerous. Even though logically, she knew the answer would be ‘No, never’ she couldn’t say it. She just couldn’t.

“Give me time.

…

“Just as I expected.” L said, “You beat me.”

“It’s been a while I had to play that hard.” the boy said with a smile. His voice sounded genuine this time, not the usual fakeness L hated so much. 

_He must be talking about what we have as Kira and L. He is as excited as I am to be against someone who’s at his level._

“I’m feeling kind of thirsty. Plus, there’s something I wanted to ask you about. So… You wanna go somewhere for a drink?” Light asked, looking at L as he spoke.

He was going to offer to go somewhere as well, he had his own questions to ask and he also had to keep him distracted from his shinigami. He doubted Light had anything he could use against him.

“You humoured me with a tennis match. The least I can do is answer your questions.” Not all of them, of course, “But before this conversation goes any further there is something I must tell you.”

“What’s that?”

“I suspect that you, Light Yagami, are in fact, Kira. Now, if you’re still going to ask me something, go ahead.”

Light couldn’t help but think _“That? I thought you actually had something important to say. We both know I am Kira.”_ however he couldn’t show it. Everything he did could be used to his disadvantage. He stopped walking and chuckled “You think I’m Kira?”

“Well, when I say I suspect you, it’s only a 1% possibility. That aside, I don’t mind telling you that once I’m sure you _aren’t_ Kira and I can verify that your deductive skills are as strong as I think they are, I’d like nothing more than to have you work with me in this investigation.” 

_I just want to see him keep him trying. I’ll ask him to join this investigation either way, as he is indeed Kira. He would never say no to that as he probably would like to get close to me and Beyond._

Light needed to get that half shinigami on his side as soon as possible. He couldn’t go on like this.

…

Beyond and Naomi had finally caught up to L and Light as they walked to a coffee shop together and sat at one of the tables in the back. They had been trying to sit somewhere as close to possible but it seemed the young man deliberately chose a table which didn’t have any tables close to it. They sat at one of the closest tables but unfortunately it was very difficult to see or hear what was going on there. Fuck.

“This coffee shop is one of my favourites in the area, and if we sit here there is no chance of anyone overhearing us.” 

_How thoughtful you are Kira. I would have appreciated the gesture if it was any other day than this one. I need to keep him distracted, however, until they get the shinigami’s attention somehow._

“Thanks for showing me this place, I can see why you like it.”

“Not to mention, we’re out of the way here, so no one’s going to give you a hard time about how you sit.” the Yagami boy chuckled, sweetly mocking him.

“I don’t sit like this because I want to, I have to sit like this. You see, if I were to sit normally, my deductive skills would immediately be reduced by roughly 40%. So, what was it that you wanted to ask me?”

He could see when the waitress came to Beyond’s table, the ‘woman’ was ordering a lot of things. How curious.

“Right. I’m sure that can wait until you’re convinced that I’m not Kira. So please, let’s talk about whatever you want.”

L had an idea, he had prepared for this. This would both distract the young man and also give L something to work on rather than talking and doing activities without any other reason. 

“You are under no obligation to this, but would you mind submitting yourself to a test of your deductive reasoning skills?”

Light was sipping a coffee he had gotten “Sure. Why not? Sounds like fun.”

“Alright then.” L said, then grabbed a few pages of folded paper from his pocket “You can take a look at these. Photographs of three notes by prison inmates while under Kira’s control just prior to their deaths. None of this information has been made public. You can take as long as you want to look them over, please let me know what you think.”

Light hummed “Interesting.” as he unfolded them and looked over to the papers.

_Come on, this is child’s play. There’s a print number on the back of these photographs. If I ignored this fact and was still able to come up with the phrase “L do you know gods of death love apples?” what would that mean? Clearly, if I read it the way Kira intended on my first attempt, I’d only look more suspicious. But the fact that I’m able to solve this silly code isn’t enough to prove that I’m Kira to authorities._

While Light was thinking and ‘theorising’ L saw that Beyond had ordered all the desserts in the menu that had apples in it. It was unfortunate that he couldn’t see the shinigami himself, he wondered if that even got his attention.

“It would be quite amazing to learn that not only can Kira kill others but can also control his victims’ actions. I think Kira wrote these and it seems he coded a message for you as well, almost as if he’s mocking you.” 

_Yes. And oh so sweetly like you did just two minutes ago._

Light put the papers back onto the table to show his point “If you put these notes side by side and take a look at the first letter of every line then it reveals a message. It reveals ‘L, did you know that shinigami love apples?’”

As he uttered the phrase, Ryuk chuckled and finally took notice to the lady close to them ordering so many apple desserts. He couldn’t help but ask “Light-o, do they make so many other food with apples! You gotta order me some.”

Light tried his best to ignore the shinigami. Yes, it was suspicious that as they spoke of apples someone was ordering a lot of apple desserts. But if this was a trap and he looked for no reason, L would have a point against him. He didn’t want that.

The shinigami flew over to the woman who ordered all the apple desserts, only to see that she was not just someone random. He chuckled. 

Beyond whispered to the creature “Let us talk outside. I will get the apple desserts packaged so you can have them later.”

_It was such a stupid plan but it worked. It somehow worked!_

The only thing they knew about shinigami was that they liked apples, and Kira had given them this hint himself. He was going to regret this.

So Beyond, Naomi and the shinigami they didn’t know the name of (they didn’t even know if shinigami _could_ have names) walked out of the coffee shop together with all the apple desserts Beyond had ordered. This was hopefully going to be a success, even the littlest info would help a lot in their case.

That left L and Light alone, though Light didn’t even know he was not alone before. Now to continue with this little test…

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ryuk will give Beyond his real parents' story in the next chapter, stay tuned :)  
> Also, Beyond X Naomi isn't happening, but they will have a very close relationship by the end


End file.
